It has been known that many hot white dwarfs atmospheres, essentially of pure hydrogen or pure helium, are contaminated by other elements – like carbon, silicon and iron.

Professor Barstow said: “The new work indicates that at around a one-third of all hot white dwarfs are contaminated in this way, with the debris most likely in the form of rocky minor planet analogues. This implies that a similar proportion of stars like our Sun, as well as stars that are a little more massive like Vega and Fomalhaut, build systems containing terrestrial planets. This work is a form of celestial archaeology where we are studying the 'ruins' of rocky planets and/or their building blocks, following the demise of the main star."

The study also points to the ultimate fate of the Earth billions of years from now- ending up as a contamination within the white dwarf Sun.